Having an Ecommerce site is a big commitment while conducting a successful ecommerce site is an even bigger one. And when it’s about making a good first impression and getting customers to return time and again, there is no alternative than having a well-designed and fully functional ecommerce website.

However, Business owners often dedicate their attention to the nuts and bolts of running their business, which includes tasks like managing inventory or handling tax calculations and compliances. But, not focusing enough during the development process of an ecommerce website can take a silent toll on your ecommerce business over time.

So, here are some key mistakes often made to remember when planning and building your online ecommerce shop that will aid in your future success.

1. Not having a strong value proposition

Why should your customers buy from you rather than your competitors? Clearly show what sets you apart from the crowd and gives you the advantage over the competition. Use images to delineate your products from the competitors.

Use clear, simple language to express why your products are valuable in headings and use body text that outlines what you are offering that others aren’t and why you’re different.

2. Not having a business plan

You don’t need 100 pages detailing the next 5 years of your business trajectory, but you do need to have an outline of your business. Think about your target customer, the market you’re selling to and what you’re selling. Know your customer’s problem and pinpoint how you can solve it better than anyone else.

Understand who your competitors are, what they are good at and what they are bad at, and work out how to capitalise on the weaknesses in their service. Work out the best way you can be competitive with price and position. Above all, ensure that you are always emphasising your point of difference.

3. Not having a marketing strategy

People need to know you exist. They need to be able to find you and choose you above your competitors. Physical advertisements, guest blog posts, and putting ads on blogs or other sites should all be considered when planning your Marketing Strategy.

Social media is another indispensable tool for driving sales and marketing to customers and cannot be left out of a marketing strategy. In order to market to your target audience, you need to know where your traffic is coming from and what is creating the most traction, so your marketing strategy should also include the use of an analytics program and some SEO integration.

PPC is also a great option for businesses who want to value for money when advertising online.

4. Choosing the wrong ecommerce platform

If your software isn’t easy enough for you to use to make small changes to your site, update your stock levels and product availability or change names, then it won’t work out in the long run. You need to establish what kind of functionality you need so you can determine the right solution for you.

Always choose the ideal ecommerce platform that evolves alongside your business, providing essential features to support your growth and expansion. Before making any decision, spend enough time researching the best ecommerce platforms first.

5. Not using quality images

This one is so important and could make all the difference. Good image quality is critical if you’re selling any products dependent on looks. In one study, it was found that larger photos increased sales by 9%.

In another study, researchers found that the experience of touching a product greatly affected a customer’s decision to buy it. Customers want to know what your product is like and need to see details, colours and textures. If they can’t actually touch your product, the next best thing is to get them to imagine doing so. Better photos will guarantee higher interest and increase the likelihood of a sale.

6. Your site doesn’t look professional

Your site’s design might be dated, slow, not mobile responsive or even look untrustworthy. Design should be a big consideration when creating an ecommerce site; a good design can trigger sales and influence your customers. Having an up-to-date mobile site will encourage customers to purchase from you, whether they are looking at your site on a desktop, laptop, tablet or phone.

Ecommerce websites need to look like they are updated regularly and need to show that you have spent time and money on making the browsing experience better. Using great photos, customer testimonials, and some logos of trusted companies (like PayPal) will all contribute to your solid, trustworthy security appearance.

7. Not focusing on user experience

It can be the unintuitive user interface design or the not-so-well-optimised search bar; there are many key signs that affect user experience. No customer enjoys shopping when there is too much clutter on a website. Even if your site has everything from great products to contact information to shipping details, what if your visitors can’t find them in one go?

So, to provide a great UX, allow customers to find the products they seek by building a clear homepage while maintaining consistency, adding site search functionality, creating CTAs, offering customer support and more.

8. Not optimising for search engines

When you have an ecommerce website, search engine optimisation (SEO) is one of those critical elements to success for any online business. Not only does it ensure your visibility in search engines, but it also brings more prospects to your page. So, forgetting about SEO can negatively affect your website’s visibility, search engine ranks and traffic.

Start by finding appropriate keywords that your targeted customers use most often. Then incorporate those to optimise your site’s content, blog posts, articles, URLs, meta tags and more. Run technical SEO to ensure that search engines can crawl and index your site without hassle.

9. Lack of security

Business owners often consider security a matter of cost instead of investment, while ecommerce security is getting more important than ever. If any of your customers doubt your security, they will take no moment to bounce to your competitor’s site.

So, implementing security can definitely put you in a better position to win your customers. Install an SSL certificate and pick a PCI DSS-compliant payment processor to prevent credit card fraud by keeping sensitive data like login credentials and payment details safe.

10. Complex checkout procedure

Until or unless a visitor makes it through your checkout process to finalise the purchase, none of the rest actually matters. However, an overly complicated checkout process often ends up making customers abandon their carts. Additionally, no guest checkout is another major turn-off for many visitors.

So, in order to keep your cart abandonment as low as possible, try to minimise the number of required fields in checkout forms, skipping all irrelevant inquiries. Keep the basics and have a variety of payment methods to speed up the process, and most importantly, allow customers to finish their purchases as guests.

Final words

These points will help you avoid some of the most common pitfalls when starting an online store. The most important thing to remember is that at the other end of the computer, there is still a real person and good customer service is still the most important factor in getting your business to thrive.

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